I'd find it hard to believe that Shell lent on them. Did the Financial Times get cold feet about upsetting this British blue-chip company? Who knows, but there are many out there who are suggesting something stinks about this – and it is not just the air that the people of the Niger Delta are forced to breathe. Certainly, by pulling the ad at 4.58pm on Monday, with Shell's AGM taking place at the Barbican in central London on Tuesday, the timing was awkward for Amnesty.

Of course, newspapers are free to turn away any ads they chose. But in this case, and by leaving the decision to the last minute, the FT must have known that there would be speculation about the reasons behind their move. Their official statement, quoted in the Press Gazette, is as follows:

"Editorially, the FT was more than willing to run the advertisement for Amnesty. Unfortunately, whilst Amnesty gave us written assurances that they would take full responsibility for the comments and opinions stated in the advertisement, it became apparent that Amnesty's lawyers had not had a proper opportunity to advise Amnesty on those opinions. As a result, from a legal perspective we were unable to rely on Amnesty's assurances."

In Amnesty's view, we gave the FT plenty of opportunity to come back to us beforehand: a final version of the ad was submitted to the paper last Friday – well within normal advertising copy deadlines. We also gave the FT written reassurances that we would take full responsibility for the comments and opinions stated in the advertisement.

Now, we will be writing back to everyone who contributed to explain what happened, and of course, anyone who asks for their donation to be refunded will get their money back. Happily, we were able to get the ad into the Metro – and doesn't that make it even more puzzling that it was happy to take it at such short notice, while the FT, with days to consider the advert, were not?

That's what is really important here: the future for the people of the Niger Delta. The fact that 2,000 individuals eagerly accepted the opportunity to pay for this ad shows that many people share our concern. The irony of this row over the ad is that it will make even more people aware of these vital issues and, we hope, force Shell – quite literally – to clean up its act.